Fatigue and recovery in shiftworking nurses: A scoping literature review

To identify factors impeding or enhancing recovery from fatigue in shiftworking nurses.

Scoping literature review methodology was implemented to identify key concepts around recovery from fatigue in shiftworking nurses to provide a narrative around these paradigms.

Five electronic data bases were searched: CINAHL, MEDLINE, PROQUEST Health and Medicine, ScienceDirect and PsycINFO to identify primary studies on fatigue and recovery in shiftworking nurses from 2000 to 2019 inclusive.

Preliminary searches were completed between September and December 2017 and finalised in January 2020. Research was drawn from nursing only samples employed under shiftwork scheduling.

31 studies were included in this scoping review. Factors impeding and enhancing recovery at work and home are identified as impacting on fatigue outcomes. Findings indicate recovery from fatigue in shiftworking nurses are most significantly affected by high work and job demands and the 'when' and 'how' of shiftwork scheduling; all reported to impede recovery from shiftwork related fatigue. The most noteworthy facilitators of recovery were work control and control over shiftwork scheduling, break opportunities at work, age and being part of a family structure. There was a dearth of research identified around the time frames of the progression from acute to chronic fatigue and the in-depth role of recovery in this transition. As chronic or long-term fatigue can develop from an acute or recoverable fatigue this may significantly impact on shiftworking nurses' health and wellbeing.

This scoping review highlights the complicated nature of shiftwork scheduling and the impact it can have on recovery from fatigue in shiftworking nurses. Multiple methods and ways of measuring fatigue, recovery and shiftwork were identified in the studies. The results describe factors impeding and enhancing recovery from fatigue as occurring within both the workplace and during time away from work. Thus, this review provides improved understanding of the barriers and facilitators in recovery from fatigue and the potential accumulation of fatigue over time. These findings are important for shiftworking nurses, nursing managers and hospital administrators, and society, who are dependant on nurses' care.